More than few years ago I was lucky enough to be invited to go on a trip to Tasiilaq, Greenland by an artist friend and colleagues from Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Scotland, Denmark and Greenland itself. The week-long trip was in the Spring of the year and we were gathered together to explore how we made use of art and craft in our communities.
Arriving in Tasiilaq is an adventure and it involved a flight from Reykjavik to an off-shore island, Kulusuk, before a helicopter took us over to the mainland, crossing icebergs, cliffs and sea filled with floating ice. Tasiilaq is a small settlement on the east coast, but it is also one of the fastest growing towns of Greenland and is the largest settlement on the east in the country. It is a wild place with a strange link to Māwhera Greymouth, where we now live in New Zealand; they both have katabatic winds. The Barber in Greymouth Māwhera brings a cold, dense fog down the Grey river and over the hills. The piteraq in Southeast Greenland is far more dangerous and brings gusting winds and plummeting temperatures. It was a life-changing experience and one that has stayed with me since.
One of the treasures that I brought back from Tasiilaq is a small piece of beadwork, made in the local orphanage. Colonial times brought hard times to the local people who began to live in static houses, abandoning their nomadic lives, and allowed alcohol consumption to become a social problem. Greenland has always been a hard place in which to survive but the inevitable consequence of losing parts of an identity has been fracture, and the necessary establishment of the orphanage. Inuit beadwork is well-known in the country and this piece was made in the building as part of the day-to-day work with children and staff, and is now in the collection at the studio. It is a colourful star shape, made with glass beads, another introduction from Europe.
There are many similarities between bead-working traditions across the globe. This article explores some of those from Africa (and beyond). Over the next few weeks I shall be looking at these similarities and differences on the blog.
Header image: Creative Commons licence by D-Stanley at https://flickr.com/photos/79721788@N00/26081555884.
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